Shadows
by deaf mute
Summary: Remilia confronts a shadow that has lingered for far too long.


((Maybe I love sibling relationships a little too much, woops.

I accidentally ended up using a little personal experience here.))

* * *

Though it had happened many, many years ago, Remilia remembered her early life with Flandre quite vividly.

She remembered running, clasping Flandre's hand in hers and dragging her through a shadowy stone corridor with blue moonlight beaming through the windows. Because Remilia couldn't bare it anymore, their parents... in short, they were some of the cruellest beings in the land.

Cruel enough to rip off their own daughters wings, and leave her back a bloody mess. Not worthy for a vampire.

Remilia felt like a fool. She had to protect her little sister, and yet, she had failed. Failed terribly, almost badly enough to cost Flandre her life- it had already caused Flandre's mental health to deteriorate badly. Remilia had walked into Flandre's room time and time again to find another toy or piece of furniture broken as tears rolled down Flandre's face in confusion, another moment of panic and anger in her little sister which scared Remilia to the bone- she didn't know what to do.

And that is why they were running. The night Flandre was finally back to full health after losing her wings, they set off running, after they had sneaked past their parents and out of earshot.

Remilia didn't feel a shard of sympathy for their parents imagining the moment they found their daughter's beds empty and cold. She only needed to worry about her sister now- the moment they broke free, that would be it. A new chance.

The two reached the end of the long corridor, and Remilia opened a door at the end of it with an echoing creak. The two ran out once again, down some turning steps covered in ivy out the back of their old mansion, the night air cold and crisp. Never looking back, they pushed through the overgrown, unused garden and through another gate, which groaned once again as Remilia forced it through the overgrown plants.

As she ushered Flandre through, Remilia took a moment to look back- just a tiny moment. The door in the mansion seemed like a dark, gaping hole, and she shuddered.

Why hadn't she escaped earlier?

Shaking her head, Remilia took off running again, out into the even darker shadows of the forest- yet far more welcome than the shadows they left behind.

* * *

Remilia sighed as she thought of that distant memory. They had come far, that was for sure- from two abused little vampire girls to mistresses of a mansion.

Well, Remilia was.

Flandre's mental condition just got worse. Her capabilities of destruction didn't even scare her anymore. She hadn't cried or panicked for a long time- it was like she was an empty shell of anger and insanity, who just wanted to destroy. Play.

The first things Flandre had destroyed were her toys and dolls.

Hey, will you play with me?

It terrified Remilia. The day her little sister finally turned on her and attacked her, that was when Remilia couldn't bear it anymore. So what did she do? Locked her away alone in the dark. Gave her some toys, made sure she was healthy- as if it would somehow revert all she had been put through, the days when their parents didn't care, didn't let them be healthy and play and act like normal children. As if Remilia thought she could somehow reset her by treating her like a child once again.

But still, Flandre destroyed. Everything had to be related to destruction.

When Remilia was alone without anyone around- Sakuya, Patchouli, everyone else in the mansion- she often wept over it, not wanting to let anything show in front of anyone. She had it under control, she told herself, she was the great Remilia Scarlet, and of course she could look after her little sister!

...Putting things that way, had the sisters really gone anywhere at all? Had anything really changed between them, in Flandre's condition?

Remilia felt a wave of something like guilt- she had run away to try help her sister more. But she was doing even less than before. But how do you protect someone from themselves?

Not sure of what she was going to do- just following the sudden impulsive feeling in her heart- Remilia set off into the basement.

* * *

Remilia found herself taking deep breaths to steady herself as she descended into the darkness of the lower basement. It had been a long while since the sisters had interacted, and Remilia still wasn't sure of what to say, following that gut instinct. Her red shoes tapping gently on the dark stone floor, not all too dissimilar from the one the sisters had ran across in escape all those years ago, Remilia slowly progressed in through the open door that led to Flandre's room.

It was just bright enough to see under the candlelight, to see Flandre's pale figure laying curled up on the bed in her blood red nightdress, wings in the air. The ones Flandre had made herself when her original wings had been torn off, the gems glinting and reflecting light. She looked small; innocent. Like a sweet little girl, with gentle curls of blonde hair.

Hesitantly, Remilia walked over and slowly sat down on the side of the bed next to her sister's sleeping form. She didn't know why she wanted to push a stray strand of hair out of her face, but she did so. Nor did she understand the sudden thumping in her heart. Remilia thought Flandre was going to remain asleep, but apparently the feeling of someone touching her hair was enough for Flandre to stir.

Her hands twitched slightly, and she slowly opened her big crimson eyes. Her head turned slightly in confusion.

"Sister, is that you?" Flandre murmured, barely audible. She was still half asleep.

"Yes, Flandre." Remilia replied.

Flandre slowly moved so she was sitting on the bed, looking into her sister's face.

"Why are you here..."

Remilia felt a strange nudge in her chest, as if what Flandre had said had hurt.

"...Why can't I see my dear sister?"

"Huh..." Flandre leaned over towards Remilia, and Remilia felt slightly strange again. "You're speaking differently, you know."

Remilia paused for a while. "I can say the same for you."

"Whys that?"

Remilia shook her head, looking away. She took an even longer pause considering what she was about to say- or if she should say it at all.

"Flandre... do you hate me? For not looking after you?"

Remilia still wasn't looking, but she felt Flandre stir considerably beside her in discomfort.

"I don't hate you! I just hate being down here all the time, I never get to play with anyone and..."

Flandre stopped herself. Remilia's head was low, unlike her- wasn't it like Remilia to proudly hold herself high?

"Why do you want to cause so much pain?"

"Does sister not like it when I play?"

"It hurts people. It hurts me; do you want to hurt me, Flandre?"

Remilia still wasn't looking at her. "Y-your acting so strange, go back..."

"That's just like what you did, you changed and I wanted you to go back, because you were my sister. I tried and tried but you never seemed to hear me. So that's why you're here, just... understand." Remilia couldn't control the wobble in her voice, as she said that last word. She didn't have to look at Flandre to know how she looked- eyes wide, mouth slightly open perhaps, confused and clueless.

It took all of her to face that shadow of her sister and speak again.

"...I'm sorry for confusing you."

"I am confused." Flandre said. "Sister wants me to go back too? To what?"

"To when you didn't think about anything but destruction."

Though, Remilia could understand why Flandre acted this way.

She'd been destroyed by the world. Now, wasn't it her opportunity to get revenge on that painful world?

But that was the same world where Remilia existed. Where every lash Flandre would take out towards that cruelty she'd suffered would hurt Remilia too. But she was too blinded by that lust for destruction to see Remilia standing there terrified. Maybe if Remilia could make her see- she was still there in this world. Her sister. She wasn't alone- the world wouldn't be coming to get her anymore, any parents to tear off her wings, anyone to look at her and harm her.

"...Because you don't have to be scared, Flandre."

"I'm not scared. I can take on anything alone!"

Remilia looked back up at Flandre, her face exactly as predicted, and stared right back.

"Nobody is going to hurt you anymore, right?"

"What do you mean?"

Remilia took her sisters pale hands in her own, trembling.

"Because I've always been here."

"I-I know you have, but I can look after myself, b-because you left me here and I'm fine, I'm a big girl."

Flandre tried to move away, confused, but Remilia took her into a hug. Flandre sank into her, not pulling away anymore.

"I'll always be here if you need me, I understand. I'm just so scared for you."

"S-sister." Flandre suddenly grabbed Remilia back, her head on Remilia's chest. She could feel Flandre's tears finally falling onto her as the sobs finally overtook.

"Don't go back up there, s-stay here." Flandre sobbed.

"I won't leave anymore, all right? You're not alone; you don't have to hurt anymore."

Remilia's hand moved to Flandre's hair as she finally let the tears of 495 long, lonely years fall.


End file.
